CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Navy water polo team concluded its 2015 season with a 12-8 setback to MIT in the seventh-place game at the CWPA Championship. Playing at MIT's home, the Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center, the Mids were held back by a strong start by the Engineers that saw the hosts take a 5-1 lead over the first 11 minutes of play. David Huber (Jr., Fort Washington, Pa.) led Navy with two of the team's eight goals.

The game opened with a slow offensive pace as only three total goals were scored in the opening quarter. MIT started the scoring with a goal at 4:40 before Navy responded at 3:12 with a Steven Emde (Sr., Ballwin, Mo.) power play marker. An Engineer score with 69 seconds remaining in the period made it 2-1.

In the second quarter, MIT put some distance between itself and Navy with three straight goals over the first 2:50. After a Jack Robinson (So., Riverside, Conn.) goal at 4:42 tightened the contest to 5-2, the teams traded the next four goals to advance the score to 7-4. Huber and Jared Castillo (So., League City, Texas) found the back for the Mids during this span. MIT tallied the final goal of the quarter to send the game to halftime at 8-4.

After netting nine goals in the second quarter, the teams struggled to recapture that touch as only two combined were recorded in the third stanza. Carl Dowzicky (Sr., Collegeville, Pa.) netted the sole Midshipmen goal.

With the score, 9-5, MIT pulled away with the first three goals of the fourth quarter over a 2:10 span of play. Down the stretch, Navy notched the final three scores to close the game with a 12-8 final result. Huber, Brendan Metcalf (Jr., Frisco, Texas) and Richard Thomas (Sr., Long Beach, Calif.) recorded the goals for the Mids.

"This was a really uncharacteristic performance for us and we just never had any energy," remarked head coach Mladen Stanicic. "MIT got out early on us in the second quarter and we never were able to really fight back. Having to play four championship-level games in a three-day span is a difficult task and we didn't respond today."

Later on Sunday, a matchup between Princeton and Johns Hopkins was held to decide the CWPA champion. After 32 minutes of action, the second-seeded Tigers pulled out a 7-6 win over the fourth-seeded Blue Jays. At the conclusion of the championship contest, Carl Dowzicky was honored with a spot on the All-Tournament team in recognition of his 10 goals in four games.

Navy finished its 2015 season with an overall record of 15-13.